CRIME: Death in New Orleans

At first there was only the smell of smoke. Robert Bemish, 43, a San Francisco broadcasting executive, opened the door of his eighth-floor room at New Orleans' Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge to investigate, and noticed "light bulbs popping all over the place" from the heat. He was standing facing the motel's swimming pool when a black youth with a rifle jumped out from some bushes, stared at him for a full second, took aim and fired. Shot through his midsection, Bemish fell into the pool. He pretended to be dead, his air-filled...

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